Christ the King

Year A

Solemnity of Christ the King

Images

Following Jesus as King

Points to note

There are many aspects to the concept of Christ as King.  We will explore the various aspects in the three times that this feast is celebrated over the cycle.

This year, we deal with the king as a judge in two ways.  The common view is held of judges as those who passes judgements and sentences on the guilty.  Initially, kings would pass judgements personally.  Then gradually as kingdoms get bigger, other able persons were co-opted to assist the king in this role until today, kings no longer personally pass judgements but have professional judges to do so in their name.

But there is another facet to judging. In monarchies until this day, kings (and queens) judges persons who are worthy (normally, they have a panel to assist them in making the selection) and these worthy people get an award or a title (in republics, presidents only hand out awards but not titles).

Today, we explore Jesus’ role as king in both facets of being a judge.

Liturgy

Acclamation before the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessings on the coming kingdom of our father David!

Alleluia!

Gospel
Explain that today is the last Sunday of the Church Year and next week we start the Advent season.

The Lord be with you.

All:   And also with your spirit.

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Matthew

All:   Glory to you O Lord

(Mt 25:31-46)

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

  

‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

  

‘Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

  ‘

And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’

This is the Good News of the Lord

Dialogue

Today, we celebrate Jesus as King.  What do kings in olden days do?  (Let’s not look towards the kings of today – most of their work has now been outsourced to others!!).  They may need to refer to the role of lords and kings that they see in movies and TV programmes of olden days.

Of the long lists that emerge, select the role of the judge.  What would you like to do if you were a king judging for one day?  Let the children talk about what they would do to those they don’t like – but spare the gory details.

Would what you do be different if Jesus was doing the judging and you were helping him?  A judge like Jesus has to be fair and a judge only decides based on evidence and not on personal feelings.

Who do Jesus judge?  Lead the children to understand that judging is not only for the guilty but also to reward those who are worthy.

Jesus was judging as a king would.  A judge calls for witnesses to find out what happens because a judge must make a judgement based on evidence.  Would Jesus need witnesses?  No, because Jesus was there when good and bad happened.  All good and bad done to anyone was done to him.  So, he knows what happened without any need for witnesses.

Discuss what this means - that whatever good & bad that was done was done to Jesus.  Have we ever stopped to think about it whenever we do anything good or bad – or hesitated to do anything good or bad.  Maybe, it is something we should do.

There was once a village with three rich brothers.  The first had a huge house with many servants keeping it clean and comfortable.  The second had a huge kitchen with many chefs cooking delicious meals.  The third had a huge workshop with many tailors making beautiful clothes. 

One day, Jesus came to the three brothers in the dream to tell them that he was coming to their village the next day.   When they awoke, the three brothers jump out of bed and ordered their servants to get to work.  The first wanted Jesus to lay his head on the most comfortable bed in the whole country.  The second wanted Jesus to taste the most delicious roast lamb in the whole country. The third wanted Jesus to wear the most beautiful cloak in the whole country.

So, the whole village was hard at work – cleaning, cooking and sewing.  At noontime, an old man, poor, tired with only tied up cloth for shoes came into the village.  He knocked on the door of the first house to ask for some hay to lay his tired head but was turned away by the first brother because his servants were busy preparing the most comfortable bed in the whole country for Jesus.  He then knocked on the door of the second house to ask for some water to quench his thirst but was turned away by the second brother because his servants were busy cooking the most delicious meal in the whole country for Jesus.  He knocked on the door of the third house to ask for some leather to make some sandals for his bleeding feet but was turned away by the third brother because his servants were busy sewing the most beautiful cloak in the whole country for Jesus.

So, the poor old man left the village more tired, hungry and bleeding feet than when he first came.  The village continued to clean, cook and sew until finally the comfortable bed, delicious meal and beautiful cloak for Jesus were all ready but no one came.  That night, the three brothers met Jesus in a dream and they all asked why he didn’t turn up.  Jesus said, “I came and asked for some hay but you didn’t give it to me. I came and asked for some water but you didn’t give it to me. I came and asked for some leather but you didn’t give it to me.”